Working Desires: A Dirty Office Romance Boxset

by Hazel Keys

  “I’m glad I’m not the only one who was thinking that,” Isabella said with a smile, leaning over so that she could plant another kiss on his lips. “We are pretty in sync, aren’t we?”

  “Surprisingly,” Amun said with a laugh, his arm moving to wrap around her shoulder lightly, the traces of his cologne that he wore earlier that day at work tickling her nose slightly, a sneeze building up at the back of her throat.

  “I don’t find it that surprising. There has to be a reason that we’ve been able to be together for this long with relatively few issues,” she said almost matter-of-factly, reaching forward to tap her wine glass gently against his. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a relationship with so few arguments before. Even my mother and father used to argue every once and a while when they first started dating, according to my mom.”

  “When am I going to meet your parents?” Amun asked suddenly, his eyes moving to glance over into her own. “I feel like we have been seeing each other long enough that we could give some consideration towards moving on to that step. Assuming you aren’t ashamed of me,” he added playfully, nudging her gently in her side.

  The sudden request caught her by surprise, that much was true. The last thing she had been expecting to hear from him today was a request to meet her parents. The topic of meeting parents had come up before, but that was before new immigration legislation had made it more difficult for visitors to come into the country. Even though his parents were from India, he was understandably worried that they would not be treated the greatest at the airports. He had seen too many similar cases on the news and didn’t want to make his parents the next headline. She could understand that fully, and she had done her best not to approach the topic again for fear of making him feel bad.

  “I don’t know. When did you want me to try and set something up?” she said with a laugh, pecking him lightly on the cheek.

  “I was figuring we could try and aim for a weekend. As to which weekend, I am not particularly picky. I just figured that it would give you an excuse to go see them, and if you are going to visit them we may as well introduce them to the guy you’ve been seeing all this time,” he said modestly, smiling innocently at her all the while in a way that was mildly suspicious.

  “I can call them tomorrow and see if they will be free in the coming weeks,” she offered helpfully, hiccupping slightly as she gulped down the last bit of her wine. “I am sure minha mãe, my mother, would love to finally meet the man I’ve been chatting up during our phone calls.”

  “Been chatting me up, eh?” he asked, a small smirk tugging his lips upward despite his obvious attempts to hold it in. “What all have you told her?”

  “Oh, you know, just the usual kinds of things. I’ve told her how we’ve met, how we started dating, what we do to spend time together, and so on. I haven’t told her anything supremely private, so you don’t have to worry about her blurting out anything embarrassing in front of my dad,” she added hurriedly, not wanting to give him the impression that she had been gossiping about him with her, which she really hadn’t been doing.

  “Ah, that’s good. I look forward to it. Aside from that, what do you want to do,” he asked simply.

  “Let’s order out.”

  Chapter Seven

  Amun

  A few months had passed by since that night, the one-year mark for his and Isabella’s anniversary rapidly beginning to approach. Amun hadn’t been idle in the slightest when it came to thinking about things that he and Isabella could do to celebrate, having bounced more ideas around in his mind in the last couple of months about that then even things related to work. He didn’t want to do the same thing for their date than they had done the year before even though he knew there had been nothing wrong with how they had spent the previous one. He simply wanted to allow Isabella to have more than a single memory about their first date, and the best way to make sure her memories wouldn’t eventually run into one another he had to make sure he did something different each year.

  Besides, it wouldn’t hurt for him to put some extra effort into thinking about what they should do to spend that particular holiday today. It had additional weight simply because it was their technical anniversary, though Amun would have put this much effort in regardless of the day. The holiday just gave him a better excuse to randomly spoil Isabella, whether with a new gift or a date he hadn’t quite decided yet. He was still tossing a couple ideas around before he committed himself to anything, and he was starting to think that he might even ask Tristan for some advice. His friend’s honeymoon would be ending any day now, which meant that the likelihood of Amun coming into work one day to see the sight of his familiar friend was slowly increasing. Amun was understandably excited about that, having missed the playful banter he and Tristan often engaged in each day during work.

  As he sat at the kitchen table enjoying the quick omelet that he had whipped up for himself, he used the touch screen on his laptop to slowly browse through a list of possible date ideas that he and Isabella could possibly do for their anniversary. They had done the dinner and a movie routine last year, so this year Amun wanted to do something a little different. He had been debating on asking his girlfriend about the two of them going out to a dance club for the evening, having remembered her making a comment about her desire to go out dancing more one time when they were hanging out at his place.

  He wasn’t entirely sure how confident he would be about dancing in public, nervousness bubbling up in the pit of his stomach every time he thought about it. He had never been the kind of person who really ever got into the dance scene, his early years having been spent mostly going to bars and hanging out with people over drinks. Going to a place where the main focus was on dancing would be entirely new to him, and that was admittedly daunting for him. He didn’t fancy himself a dancer, and the worry that he would end up embarrassing Isabella in public made him hesitant to want to offer that up as an option.

  I would probably save way more time if I were to just ask Isabella about what she would be okay with doing. It would probably be a lot easier than him sitting there and driving himself crazy with indecision before work. Besides, he didn’t want to be the one to suggest an idea on his own. He didn’t want her to feel like he was previously inclined towards an activity for fear of her not offering to go do something that she wanted to do. Whatever they did for their date, it had to be fun for both of them or it wouldn’t be worth it.

  He straightened out his tie in front of the mirror before he began to prepare to head out of his house for the day. He made sure to grab his wallet this time around, tucking it into the back pocket of his pants before slinging his laptop bag over his shoulder. He slipped his cell phone into his pocket and picked up his keys, tugging the front door of his house closed and sliding the lock into place with a satisfying click. That is way more satisfying than it should be, he thought amusedly as he made his way to his car and climbed inside.

  “Isabella, I was hoping that we could talk really quick before you get started working,” Amun said hurriedly as he stood in the doorway to his girlfriend’s office, his eyes slowly moving over to glance in the direction of where Bella’s empty chair sat. He wanted to make sure she was alone before he said anything, fearing he might embarrass himself otherwise. “I wanted to talk about our approaching anniversary.”

  The look of surprise on her face caught him off guard, his eyebrow cocking upwards as he looked her back in the eyes. “You do remember the fact that it is coming up, don’t you?”

  “O-Of course I do. I am just a little surprised that you do,” she shot back playfully in such a way that made him laugh gently.

  “We haven’t been together so long that it has become hard to remember something like that. Plus, it helps that we did it on such a notable day. Makes it even harder to forget,” he added, his hand moving to stroke lightly along her cheek.

  “So romantic,” she murmured, smiling as she looked back into his eyes, her cheek pressing back against his t
ouch lightly.

  So convenient, he thought to himself, though he made sure he didn’t say that part out loud. “I like to do what I can in that regard,” he said instead, scratching his cheek nonchalantly.

  “So, what were you possibly thinking about wanting to do? I know that I have had a couple ideas, but I guess I wanted to touch base with you first before I tried to commit myself to any of my decisions,” he said hurriedly, glancing at his watch before looking back at her. “I want to make sure it is something that both of us want to do.”

  “That is so wonderfully thoughtful of you, Amun,” she said quietly, a gentle smile playing at the corners of her mouth as she gazed at him. “It is so sweet that you would be worried about something like that.”

  “Isn’t that how people are supposed to do things?” he asked incredulously, feeling genuine confusion now from their brief exchange. These were things that had been taught to him before by his father when he was a young man. Even with how old fashioned his father appeared day today, his mother had still told him plenty of stories of different things that he had done for her over the years for her anniversary.

  The silence from Isabella told him pretty much all he needed her to at that moment, Amun allowing himself to take a moment to recover from his mild confusion before fixing another smile to his lips. Time was ticking by now, so he should probably work to try and wrap things up so he could get to his office.

  “Anyway, I figured you could take a couple of days to think about it since we have a week until our special day, and once you think you have an idea of what you want to do you can let me know,” he finished quickly, waving goodbye before he let himself out of her office. He was glad that he had managed to tell Isabella before he started the workday since if he hadn’t been able to the thought would have driven him crazy until he had done it.

  By the time that his lunch break rolled around Amun was experiencing a sensation that he had not felt in a very long time while on the clock: boredom. He had received very few calls that day, something that was both slightly unnerving and somewhat relieving to see. He had been experiencing a constant fluctuation of business the last couple of months, with some days loading him down with calls while other days he would actually finish with his work ahead of time, sitting idly in his office and browsing social media sites or watching YouTube videos with one wireless headphone pressed into his ear. There weren’t any rules regarding how a worker was to spend their time in between calls when they didn’t have paperwork to do, so it wasn’t like he could get in trouble for doing it. He paused his video when his office phone began ringing, holding the receiver up to the side of his head that didn’t have a headphone in.

  “Hello?” His voice was polite and cheerful, the male putting on his best sales representative voice the way he did every time that he received a call.

  He listened patiently to the customer’s question regarding the selection of leather jackets that the company sold. It was provided to RushIt! through another distributor whom the company paid a small percentage to in exchange for the goods, and it had a multitude of both brand names and generic coats. The customer’s question, in particular, was whether or not they were currently carrying coats like the ones that the main characters wore in The Matrix. He effortlessly managed to keep his voice steady despite the amusement he felt, pulling up the catalog on his laptop and quickly bringing up the search bar.

  His eyes slowly roamed over each of the jackets in the catalog as he scrolled past them, keeping his eyes open for the ones that looked most like what the customer was asking for. They weren’t a cosplay store, so they weren’t going to have anything that was exactly like an outfit from a movie. However, fortunately for the customer, they seemed to have a few different brands of jackets in stock that looked more or less like what they were looking for. He rattled off the web address for the client to be able to pull up on their own later, and once he was certain that the customer didn’t require anything further from him he ended the call.

  He stood up from his desk and walked towards the break room, heading towards where the refrigerator stood before him. He pulled the door open and pulled the Tupperware container with his name written on it out, popping the top of the lid off so that he could peer inside. He had brought the leftovers that Isabella had made for their meal the night before, smiling as he thought back to the romantic comedy that they had watched which had ultimately led to them heading to his bedroom for a little late night fun of their own. He popped the bowl into the microwave and let it run for a couple of minutes, leaning casually against the counter next to it as he waited for his meal to warm up.

  “Those leftovers from yesterday smell pretty great,” Isabella said as she walked into the lounge with her own lunch container, pausing in the doorway so that she could take a deep whiff of the air. “Makes me really glad that I decided to put some aside for myself too.”

  “I told you that it would pay off later,” he said cheekily, watching as the microwave turned off with a loud beep. “Aren’t you glad that you listened to me?”

  She stuck her tongue out at him as he pulled his food out of the microwave and took a seat at the available table, scooting the metal folding chair closer to the table so he didn’t have to worry about dropping food into his lap. He waited until her food was finished heating up as well before he started to dig in, blowing roughly on the steaming food before even trying to take a bite. The mouthwatering smell of the hamburger steak that he had brought mixed with the mushroom gravy that it had been served with was enough to make him let out a happy little sigh of contentment as he took the first bite, the different flavors washing over his taste buds.

  “You look like you are really enjoying that,” she said cheekily, lifting a forkful of spaghetti up to her lips and taking a small bite.

  “It is actually even tastier now than it was at the restaurant,” he said happily, cutting another thick slice off of the large steak sitting before him, making sure that he collected plenty of the sauce on it before lifting it up to his mouth. “The flavor has had time to actually soak into the meat.”

  Isabella’s hand moved to pick up the metal fork that she had brought with her, using the side of it to cut a slice off of the thick meatballs that had come with her spaghetti. She lifted it slowly to her luscious lips and blew gently on it, her eyes moving to peer up at Amun as he watched her. She giggled gently as their eyes met, taking a bite and slowly chewing it as she gazed right back at his face. He was pleased to see that he didn’t feel the need to look away from her eyes anymore, obviously, the time they had spent together having allowed him to grow far more comfortable with her. “You are making me kind of jealous,” she admitted finally, eliciting a small chuckle from her boyfriend.

  “How so?” he asked curiously, gathering another bite of his steak and preparing to lift it up to his mouth.

  “That smells amazing, but I can’t understand how you are able to eat steak when cows are supposed to be sacred to your people,” she said, looking over at him with a small smirk on her lips.

  “We’ve been over this before, Isabella, I do not follow the same religion that my parents do. I respect their beliefs because they are what I grew up with, but I had spent my entire life leading up to my eighteenth birthday without having ever even seen hamburger or steak. My coming to America was the first time that I found myself presented with the ability to try these things, and I discovered that I have quite a liking for it. I will never partake of it when my parents are around, but while I am not around them I intend to continue to indulge in this particular guilty pleasure,” he said, offering the bite of steak up to her for her to try.

  She leaned forward and slowly took her bite, pulling the piece of steak from the fork and chewing it slowly, a dreamy look spreading across her face as the taste coated her tongue. Amun watched her with a small grin on his face, reaching over to sneak a bite of one of her meatballs.

  “It’s almost sacrilegious for it to taste that good to an Indian, isn’t
it?” she asked him, her hand moving to rest on his thigh gently as she returned her focus to her own lunch.

  “You are probably right about that,” he replied, his chest shaking as he found himself laughing.

  “You guys sound like you are having a good time,” Brad’s voice came from right behind them, spooking the both of them enough that they jumped in their chairs. He seemed to find this highly amusing, rounding the table in order to catch a glimpse of the bashful looks on both of his coworkers’ faces. It was always fun to tease them a bit, after all.

  “We are. I was just going to get around to ask Isabella if she had given any more thought to what she might want to do for our anniversary next week,” he said casually, though a hint of excitement lingered in his voice.

  “Ah, that is right. You guys have been going out almost a year, haven’t you? Man, time sure does seem to fly by,” Brad said morosely, his expression suddenly growing distant as his thoughts seem to consume him for a moment.

  “Yeah, but you and Rachel have gone out even longer, so that has to feel good. Didn’t you guys go do something special for your first year anniversary?” Isabella asked, gazing over at him while Amun leaned in slightly to hear the answer.

  Brad simply nodded but didn’t reply, the sound of someone calling to him granting him the opportunity to gracefully see himself out. Amun and Isabella glanced back at one another curiously before gazing back at the door that Brad had just left through. It seemed like their friend was being bothered by something.

  “I’ll have to talk to him later,” Amun said quietly.

  “That might be a good idea,” Isabella replied gently.